A house fire tore through a home on Leodra Lane in Laveen just before 10 p.m. Sunday, displacing four residents and leaving two family dogs unconscious from smoke inhalation before firefighters managed to revive them on scene. No people were hurt, according to fire officials, but the blaze near 51st and Southern avenues gutted enough of the home that its occupants now have nowhere to sleep.
Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke and flames pouring from the structure and used hoses to knock down the fire while searching the house, according to AZ Family. Inside, crews found two dogs unresponsive from smoke inhalation and carried them outside, where firefighters used FIDO bags — oxygen masks built specifically for animals — to bring both dogs back to breathing before rushing them to an animal hospital for further treatment. Fire investigators are still working to determine what sparked the blaze.
How the Pet Oxygen Masks Work
Standard human oxygen masks cannot seal properly around a dog's or cat's muzzle, which is why fire departments carry cone-shaped veterinary masks built into kits known as FIDO bags. Those kits also include burn sheets, saline solution, bandages, and restraints for treating injured animals at the scene, per KTAR News. Phoenix firefighters have used the equipment, while standard gear simply doesn't fit an animal's face.
That equipment traces back to a Scottsdale nonprofit called The Fetch Foundation, founded by Marie Peck to close the gap in emergency medical care for pets caught in fires and disasters, according to the organization's own mission statement. The foundation has supported, equipped, and trained first responders with FIDO bags, according to KTAR News.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Phoenix
The Leodra Lane fire is far from an isolated case. Phoenix firefighters have used a FIDO mask to resuscitate a cat pulled from a house fire, according to NDTV. In another Phoenix house fire, crews resuscitated two dogs with a FIDO bag. Together, these incidents illustrate how Phoenix firefighters use pet oxygen equipment during residential blazes.
The stakes behind that rescue are steep. Home fires pose a serious national danger.
Support for the Displaced Residents
The four residents displaced from the Leodra Lane home were not injured, fire officials said, but they now face the same immediate needs that follow any residential fire in the city. Phoenix's Community Assistance Program supported the displaced family, while the American Red Cross also offers support to people displaced by fires. The Laveen fire follows closely on the heels of a separate West Phoenix blaze earlier this month that spread from a tree to two homes and displaced seven residents.
What caused the Leodra Lane fire remains unknown while investigators continue their work. Both dogs pulled from the home survived, a small mercy in a fire that otherwise left a family without a house to return to.
